Turning Canvas into Cosmos, With Hannah Pearman

Turning Canvas into Cosmos, With Hannah Pearman

Weekly Inspiration: The Cosmos

If you want to find Michelle’s inspiration this week, look up. She is in constant awe of the universe. She marvels at the way each individual particle harmoniously interacts to form an elegant symphony of matter around us. The unexplored grandness of the cosmos makes us question how something so seemingly chaotic can be so ultimately elegant and purposeful. The lack of definitive answers to these questions arouse a sense of humility, magic and an appreciation for the human experience—an appreciation shared by this episode’s Cultured guest, aptly known as Hannah and the Cosmos.

Exploring a galaxy of fluid acrylics and abstract art with Hannah Pearman

Artists like Hannah Pearman prove that a canvas can hold much more than just paint. By using fluid (or watered-down) acrylic paints, Hannah brings to life the majestic blue and green hues that found in the rich ecosystems of her native country, New Zealand. Her abstract creations honor the enormity of our surroundings, from the cosmos to our planet’s deep seas (which she refers to as our very on cosmos on earth).

Hannah and Michelle explore the colorful and viscous qualities of her art and the way her abstract expressionist style challenges her to relinquish control. Hannah reveals the texture and contract of her feelings of homesickness and how those complex feelings influence her craft. Listen to Episode 31 to hear how Hannah creates a fearless and intuitive cosmos of her own on canvas.

About Hannah Pearman, abstract expressionist painter

Hannah is a New Zealand-born multidisciplinary artist and wannabe astronomer. Atlanta-based for the past 10 years, Hannah uses art as the phrasebook for translating questions of cultural identity and belonging, and as a toolbox for rebuilding a ‘home’ in place of the one she misses.

Her affection for space began early in life, inspired by hours of stargazing with her father, and what started as wide-eyed wonder has transformed into a deep respect for the conversation between control and chaos. Her work is one part longing for the glow-in-the-dark star-covered bedroom ceiling of her childhood, and three parts surrender to the miraculous confluence of choice and chance that makes the human experience so beautiful.

Hannah has her BA in visual communication from the Institute of Technology in Christchurch, New Zealand.